He lost his mother to COVID-19. Now he’s warning others to heed warnings about the virus.

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – A well-known pastor has encouraged people to not disregard warnings about the coronavirus after his mother loses her fight with COVID-19.

Bishop Clarence Parks preached the funeral of his mother today. Eugenia Parks, 91, died last week after a 20 day battle with the coronavirus.

Parks is pastor of Tupelo’s Temple of Compassion and Deliverance. He said families with loved ones fighting the virus face unusual circumstances.

“The most trying thing of this is we couldn’t go see her in the hospital when we wanted to and not only that, we couldn’t be there to hold her hand while she was taking her last breath of life, but I give props to North Mississippi Medical Center, they always treated us cordial and nice, when I would call they would be nice,” Pastor Parks said.

Bishop Parks said he will remember his mother as a woman of faith, who helped people whenever and however she could.

The funeral was also shown on live on TCD’s Facebook page.